In either situation, our team works with the client to support their position with evidence and present their case clearly to the other side or the court. We prepare documents, present arguments, and make the case for why our client deserves a particular outcome on assets, alimony, or other requested relief. We regularly work with two kinds of clients:
- ➔ I earned an advanced degree, make more money than my spouse, and want to protect my hard work.
- ➔ I sacrificed my career to care for the family and home, and/or contributed financially while my spouse earned an advanced degree.
Reviewed by Charlotte Coker Christian, Esq., Founding Attorney at Summit Family Law. Licensed by the Alabama State Bar. LL.M. in Trial Advocacy, Temple University Beasley School of Law; J.D., Faulkner University; graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College.
Last updated: August 3, 2026.
Is a Professional Degree or License Marital Property in Alabama?
This is the question that drives most of these cases. Alabama, like the majority of states, does not treat a professional degree or license itself as a divisible marital asset. A court will not put a dollar value on your law degree, medical license, or MBA and order you to pay your spouse a share of it directly.
That does not mean the degree is irrelevant to the divorce. Under Alabama's equitable distribution framework (Ala. Code § 30-2-51), a court considers each spouse's contribution to the marriage, including financial contributions to the other spouse's education and career, when dividing marital property and deciding whether to award alimony. A supporting spouse who worked, took on debt, or put their own career on hold while the other spouse finished school has a real basis to ask the court to account for that sacrifice, even though the degree itself won't be split.
How Earning Capacity Affects Alimony and Property Division
Where a professional degree matters most is in alimony. A significant, education-driven gap in earning capacity between spouses is one of the factors Alabama courts weigh in deciding the type, amount, and duration of alimony, alongside the length of the marriage, each spouse's health and age, and the standard of living established during the marriage. Courts can award:
- Rehabilitative alimony, time-limited support intended to help a supporting spouse complete their own education or job training and re-enter the workforce at a comparable level.
- Periodic alimony, ongoing support tied to the receiving spouse's need and the paying spouse's ability to pay, which can be modified later if circumstances change materially.
- An offsetting share of marital property, where a court awards the supporting spouse a larger share of the assets actually available to divide (the house, savings, retirement accounts) to account for the fact that the degree itself isn't on the table.
For a full breakdown of how Alabama calculates and awards alimony, see our Alabama alimony page.
What We Look at in a Professional-Degree Divorce
Whichever side of this you're on, the numbers matter as much as the legal argument. We work through:
- Documenting the contribution. Tuition payments, loan statements, tax returns showing who earned what during school, and records of unpaid work (childcare, household management, career sacrifice) that let a supporting spouse's contribution be argued and quantified rather than asserted in the abstract.
- Realistic earning-capacity analysis. What the degree or license is actually worth in the job market today matters more than what it could theoretically earn in a best-case scenario, and both sides often need a vocational or financial expert to make that case credibly.
- How the professional practice itself is structured. If the professional spouse owns or has equity in a practice, clinic, or firm, that ownership interest is a separate valuation question from the license itself, and often the more significant asset in the case. See our page on high-net-worth and high-asset divorce for how we approach business and practice valuations.
- Student loan debt. Debt taken on to fund the degree is itself a marital liability that has to be allocated, separately from questions about the degree's value.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my spouse get part of my medical or law degree in an Alabama divorce?
No court in Alabama will order you to pay your spouse a direct share of the degree's value. What a court can do is consider your spouse's contribution to that degree, and the resulting gap in earning capacity, when dividing marital property and deciding alimony.
I put my career on hold so my spouse could finish school. What can I recover?
You can ask the court to account for that contribution under Alabama's equitable distribution factors, and to consider the resulting earning-capacity gap in an alimony award, whether rehabilitative or periodic. Documentation of what you contributed, financially and otherwise, is what turns this from an argument into evidence.
Does it matter if the degree was earned before the marriage?
It can. A degree or license obtained before the marriage is generally treated as separate property, though the increase in earning capacity or the professional practice built up during the marriage may still be relevant to property division and alimony.
What if my spouse owns an interest in a medical practice, law firm, or other professional business?
That ownership interest is typically a marital asset subject to valuation and division, a separate question from the underlying license. This usually requires a business valuation, which we coordinate as part of the case. See our high-net-worth divorce page for more on how we handle business and practice valuations.
Related reading: Alabama Alimony | High-Net-Worth Divorce in Alabama | Alabama Divorce Laws: What You Need to Know
